"Fall back now" a tall man adorned with tight leather armor commanded as he gritted his teeth in frustration! He looked at his assailants in anger. Several of his men had been cut down by the three people in black who stood nonchalantly in their place. Out of the twelve men he came with, only three of them remained; however, they were riddled with injuries.
"What should we do captain" one of his men asked? The man asking the question had his brows furrowed in pain as he held his left arm. There were three large holes, each with a diameter of two centimeters, on his arm. The skin around the holes were charred. Even though he was addressing his captain his eyes were glued to the source of his injury - the black gun that was in the possession of one of their attackers.
"We must find a way to tell the King what is happening" the captain gritted his teeth in dismay. Even though he was saying this, there was no escape route. His trained eyes kept scanning their location to see if there was any way out, yet the earth dome that their enemies had erected sealed them from the rest of the world. He didn't know much about their abilities because he couldn't see through their strength. Even peak wielders of Zandor wouldn't be able to manipulate the earth so easily like their enemies. And he was an earth wielder at the peak of the mortal realm, so he should know. It was even scarier when he remembered that it took only one person to do this.
Captain Zakai was out of sorts. He had no ideas, his brain was a blank. Initially the mission the emperor had given him seemed to be pretty easy. "There is something off with the Eastern Empire. We have lost all our contacts there. Find out what is happening and report to me immediately"
Those were his Emperor's words, and personally Zakai thought it was a bit too much to send the captain of the Royal Guards after something so trivial. Or so he thought at the time. But it turned out that he was the ignorant one. The Emperor had sent Zakai because he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. The vision of the Emperor was amazing for him to be able to foresee the difficulties that lay in the mission.
Unfortunately, even Captain Zakai, a man at the peak of the mortal realm and at the forefront of power in Zandor was no much for these three men. He wasn't even able to put up a fight. The opponents were clearly toiling with them. Their simple espionage mission had turned into a suicide mission, with most of his men dead. But even with the odds stacked against him, all the captain could think about was the fate of his Emperor; the Emperor who was going to face an army of powerful villains.
"Play time is over champs. Just kill them already. We need to tell Master that the Western Empire already suspects something." One of the men in black announced. He had long wavy hair and the sharp chin reflective of most Eastern Empire men. He seemed to be the leader of the group, and his aura was more suffocating than the other two. Of the three men, he was the only one who hadn't made any attempts to take their lives. That's right, only two men did the killing. The earth wielder who erected the dome that was impervious to their attacks, and the gun master who had easily breached their defenses.
"Okay. I guess all good things have to come to an end" the gun master announced. Unlike his words, there was no positive emotion in his voice, only the sickening smile that adorned his lips greeted his prey. The earth wielder was more subtle, only nodding his head in response. Although they were having a good time playing around with their opponents, they knew what was at stake. If the Western Empire had noticed something was wrong, then the two empires that were in no way inferior to the former would notice too. They had to report to their king.
Captain Zakai gritted his teeth as he summoned the earth elements. In his moment of peril he could feel a connection to the earth elements like never before. They felt closer than before. They felt like family. He could hear their whispers, and they showed him the way. A presage of a brighter path.
"Oh? Hold on. He's having a breakthrough." The leader of the small crew raised his hand and signaled to the others to halt their movements. He wasn't worried in the slightest. He was strong enough to deal with a newly promoted above-mortal realm wielder. And his men were more than capable of dealing with three newly promoted wielders each. He decided to wait for the man's breakthrough to end, before they continue.
"He broke through without a good manual. Such talent" the earth wielder sighed. How difficult was it to breakthrough to the above-mortal realm with a manual that ended at the peak mortal realm? The answer was 'impossible'. It was like trying to sketch a portrait in a cup of water. Whatever you do would be undone. Yet there was someone here defying all expectations and logic. The earth elements had reached out to this man and provided him strength on their own.
"I think he has a special physique. We should capture him and bring him in to Master." The leader commanded. The earth wielder nodded in response. The gun master looked annoyed that he would lose his murder target, but he eventually nodded as well.
"Look. He's done now. Deal with the others and seize him." The leader waved his hand as he gave his command. The two black clad men obliged. The crazed gun master lifted his gun and aimed at the solider he had already injured. Previously he only shot holes into his arm, but now the chest was the target. The locked-on soldier paled at the sight of the gun pointed at him. He had exhausted his energy. He had nothing left in him. There was no way he could dive out of the way. He smiled bitterly at his end.
Gun masters usually hid in the shadows and attacked from afar because they were disadvantaged against close combat wielders. And yet he, a close combat wielder, was going to fall to a gun master who didn't even bother to build some distance between them. When he recalled how his colleagues who got close had been clobbered to death with the gun like they were pests, he knew that he was no match for the gun master even at close range.
'At least I didn't have any wife or kids. And my parents died long ago. No one would mourn for me' he thought as he faced his impending doom. He smiled knowing that he wouldn't hurt anyone by losing his life. In that regard, many of his fallen comrades were less fortunate. The gun master smiled when he saw the look of despair on the soldier's face. He loved that look. That look of pain and frustration. That's what made this job so fulfilling. He filled the gun with fire as he released a large ball of flames towards his prey.
*Bang*
The soldier closed his eyes, expecting to die, yet the pain he awaited never came. All he saw was a wall of earth shielding him. It wasn't just him. His comrade who was about to be clobbered by an earth hammer was also by his side. He looked to the one who saved his life.
"Captain" he exclaimed!
Captain Zakai smiled and said, "I couldn't save the others. But I wouldn't let another person die before my eyes."
"He is trickier than I expected" the leader of the three men furrowed his brows in contemplation. Before his earth wielding subordinate could smash his hammer down he was sent flying by the fully armored Captain Zakai. Not only was the captain able to foil one attack, he dealt with the other one as well, erecting an earth wall - proof that he was now an above-mortal realm wielder.
"Ouch" the earth wielder who was smashed into the dome stretched as he got up from the ground. The blow was heavier than he had anticipated. And for an earth wielder, the captain was very fast. "That blow was heavier than I expected" the stretching earth wielder informed his leader.
"How would you rate his power now" the leader questioned? "I would compare his blow to a peak 2nd stage above-mortal realmer" the earth wielder answered. The gun master furrowed his brows at the reply that was given. Unlike him, his earth wielding compatriot took his missions seriously. They were both 4th stage above-mortal realmers with great experience. Their leader was two levels above them. Although someone with the fighting strength of a 2nd stage above-mortal realmer would be generally unstoppable on Zandor, they didn't register Captain Zakai at all. He was still easily disposable with their level of strength. The only reason they were a bit fascinated with Captain Zakai was that he had only broken through to the 1st stage of the above-mortal realm, yet he possessed such battle strength.
"Now I'm all the more eager to bring him to Master alive" the leader stated as he licked his lips. They had captured several talents for their Master over the past few months, yet he wasn't satisfied. Like the gulosity displayed by a greedy monarch, their leader was eager to bring a new 'toy' to their Master.
"Bring him to me. Maim him, but do not kill him" he commanded with excitement tainting his husky voice. The two men nodded at his words. The gun master readied his gun as he leaped further back to create some more space between himself and his opponent. Initially he wasn't worried that they would get close, even if they did they wouldn't be able to scratch his clothes. He was a gun master, and like every gun master he had amazing agility. But the speed Captain Zakai displayed earlier forced him to build a modicum of respect and regard for the man. And the weight of the earlier blow would be enough to injure him. After all, although he was about three levels above the Captain, a gun master like him had weaker than average defence and would be easily injured if one could land a good hit.
The earth wielder didn't have the same problems. He focused on an element that elevated his defenses and increased his offense. Against a fellow earth realmer who was weaker in level and had less inner energy, he had nothing to fear; besides, he was envious of the armor that encapsulated the entire being of his target. It was obvious that the earth armor his opponent had summoned was the glow he had just awakened. A glow that impressive was proof that Captain Zakai had greater affinity with the earth elements than he did. He was eager to strike Zakai down to prove his superiority. And since he was given the go ahead to maim the guy, he didn't have to limit himself. He dashed towards his target as he gathered the earth elements around his fist. The earth coated fist landed thunderously on Captain Zakai's midsection.
*Bam*